One square inch equals 6.45 square centimeters. My figure was 125-150 mA per
square inch, which would translate about to 20-23 mA per square centimeter.

I guess I like a little brisker bubbling action than those guys, or maybe I
made a mistake in my calculations. Reading the rust.htm link I see that he
recommends leaving the piece in "for a few days" and also he doesn't like
brisk bubbling action. Obviously he likes to use less current than I do.

I looked through the links below (thanks!) and most of them had some minor
point which I would take issue with. For example, Orrin's page describes
cutting out a disc (disk?) from a coffee can lid and using it stuck over a
steel rod as a spacer inside a cylinder. I prefer spacers that allow current
to flow much more freely. Nothing against Orrin or his page, it's where I
learned.

What I'm most interested in now is the use of lead sheet for the cathode. I
have tried this (as I've posted) and it works great, no current drop as I always
used to see with steel cathodes. The lead electrode turns red, so I suspect the
formation of red lead (lead tetraoxide) as opposed to lead carbonate as another
person has suggested. My only reason for thinking that is the color - lead
carbonate is white, and of course lead tetraoxide is red, and my electrode
turned red, not white. I don't believe that much lead is going into the bath,
and of course I wash my hands after handling it.

I wish I knew more chemistry sometimes.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Leon Fisk wrote:
On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 13:40:43 -0700, "WoodButcher"

I too have been archiving electrolytic derusting info and had this link
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatc...considerations
where he currently recommends 1ma per square centimeter. Interestingly
enough my archived page (Oct-2004) shows his recommendation
as 1-5 mA per square centimeter.

Other electrolytic derusting links FYI:
http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/rustdemo/rustdemo.htm
http://www.davidbradley.net/ERR.html
http://www.bhi.co.uk/hints/rust.htm
http://www.nothingtodo.org/projects/norust.htm

Art


Here are a couple more that you can add to the list.

http://www.650rider.com/Content/pid=6.html

http://engines.rustyiron.com/electrolysis/index.html

I keep the whole page/info locally, so I can't be sure
anymore where some of it came from...